The Fruits of Suffering
by SweetNoNameNemo
Summary: Each character in this story has some sort of cross to bear. Their suffering and the suffering of others changes their lives forever. Main couple: RinxSess. Other couples: SangoxMiroku and InuxKag. Rated M for content.
1. It Was Nine Years Ago Today

**Author's Note: This story takes place in the present. The main couple in this story will be Rin and Sesshomaru. However, there will also be Miroku x Sango, InuYasha x Kagome, etc. **

**Rated M for content. **

Rin sat at her vanity brushing her ebony hair and putting on her makeup. It was the first day of school and she had to look her best. After all, she spent her entire first year of 9th grade being sad and barely getting by on her schoolwork. She vowed that she would make the best of her situation this time. Last year she spent too much time lingering on the death of her parents, as she had for many years. She stared at the bouquet of flowers she got for them and the memories flooded back into her mind.

Her parents had died soon after she started second grade. It had been a typical day for a seven year old. Playing on the swings, coloring, and snack time. Then it happened. A social worker came in to the classroom and pulled her out of class. She and a couple of other people, including the principal of the school and the counselor explained to her what happened. She didn't understand at first, after all she was only seven.

_She ran away from them and into the woods by the school. Her house was somewhere in them. She knew because her and her mother would walk home each day through them. She ran until she found the house. It was burned to the ground. _

"_Mom! Dad!" She called frantically. She headed toward the rubble, but was stopped by a fireman. _

"_Let me go! I have to find mommy and daddy!" She cried, desperately struggling to get out of the man's grip._

"_They're not in there." He told her. She stopped. _

"_Where are they?" She asked desperately. He didn't reply. Instead, he took her to where two stretchers with blankets over them stood. _

"_They're right here." He muttered and put her down. She walked over to the stretchers and put her hand over the top one._

"_You'll be okay mommy. You'll be okay daddy. Rin is here." She told them. The firemen and the paramedics watched her comfort the corpses and felt so sorry for the poor little girl. They didn't have the heart to tell her that they were gone._

_They knew, though, that she would find out soon. And she did._

Remembering their death made her heart ache and her body go cold. She had to get a grip on this. That was nine years ago. She would always miss them and love them, but she couldn't possibly keep going like this. Constantly lingering on their death wouldn't help her.

She changed out of her pajamas and into her school uniform. (It's the same as Kagome's except her shoes are black and she carries a black bag.) She looked at her reflection in the mirror one more time as she picked up the bouquet of flowers off the vanity.

"I guess it's time to go now.." She decided. She opened the door and walked down the steps.

"Good morning, Rin." Ms. Higurashi said with her usual cheerfulness.

"Good morning." Rin replied, dejected. The Higurashi family had taken her in after the incident. She and Kagome had met when they were five and had been friends ever since. Ms. Higurashi had grown to respect and care for Rin's family as if they were her own, so when her parents died, she immediately took on being Rin's guardian. Rin was grateful to her, but she could never replace her mother. That's why she never called her mom. Ms. Higurashi never pressed it though. She understood without having to ask.

Ms. Higurashi looked up at her. She opened her mouth to say something when her eyes lowered to the flowers in Rin's hand. The empathetic expression on her face showed that she understood what was going on.

"Rin, do you want me to come with you? Would you like to stay home from school today?" Ms. Higurashi asked.

"No thanks. I'll be fine going to school today." Rin replied. Ms. Higurashi looked worried, but didn't press on it.

"Okay then. If you need anything you can come to me." Ms. Higurashi told her. Rin nodded and opened the door.

"I'm leaving now." Rin said as she put on her shoes. She headed out of the shine and walked down the sidewalk. After a short time, she reached a sign.

"_Tanaka Cemetery"_

She walked into the cemetery and walked to a small group of graves. She sat in front of them, rereading the inscription.

_**Nanami Kokoro Nanami Keitaro**_

"Mom.. Dad," Rin started as she put the flowers on the grave. Their faces entered her mind for a moment.

"It was nine years ago today.." She said. She hung her head down. She prayed over the grave for a while. What she had to say now was going to hurt tremendously even though there was no one around to hear her, not even the ones she was talking to.

"I've been grieving over you for so long and," She paused to swallow the lump of pain that suddenly grew in her throat. The tears began to fall like crazy now.

"It's time I moved on. I can't live this way. I love you mom. I love you dad." She said, getting up from the grave to leave. After a few steps, she turned her head to face the grave again.

"I'll always miss you." She whispered. She left the graveyard and headed to school, wiping the tears from her face.

Kagome had just finished breakfast and went to put her dishes in the sink. _I wonder where Rin is? She usually eats with us.. _Kagome thought. She reached down to the floor to get her bad when her mom put her hand on her shoulder.

"Kagome," She began. Kagome looked up and caught the worry in her mom's eyes.

"Mom? Is everything okay?" Kagome asked.

"I'm worried about Rin. She's been so dejected since the accident. It isn't strange for her to feel that way, but I would have thought she would feel a bit better after so much time. It seems as if she hasn't made any progress." Her mom explained. _Rin is still grieving, but she has made some progress.. hasn't she? Could she really be just as heart broken as she was back then? She acts happy most of the time, but what is she really feeling? _Kagome thought. _I just remembered.. it's nine years today! How could I have forgotten? That means..._

"I'll try to talk to her about it later. Maybe she's just remembering it a lot lately because it's the anniversary of their death." Kagome guessed.

"Maybe..." Her mom contemplated.

"Well I have to get going. Try not to worry too much. She'll be just fine." Kagome assured her.

"You're right. We just have to help her through this. I'll see you later, Kagome." Her mom smiled. Kagome went out the door and ran off to school.

_Poor Rin.. maybe seeing all our friends again will cheer her up. _Kagome hoped.


	2. Her Choice

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were walking to school. As always it was silent. It was either arguing or silence, and it seemed like they both chose silence for today. Inuyasha had other things on his mind anyway.

_Kikyo..._ Inuyasha called out in his mind. He knew she was gone. There was no bringing her back. It had been so sudden. He never saw it coming.

_Why.. why Kikyo? What could have been so... _Inuyasha asked no one. Kikyo and Inuyasha had been together for a little over a year and a half when it happened.

"_Inuyasha... I'm not getting anywhere with anything..." Kikyo muttered, agony drenching every word. Inuyasha stiffened where he stood. _

"_What do you mean by that? You've got perfect grades, lots of friends, and you get pretty much anything you want. And what about me? You have me.." Inuyasha asked, his voice lowering to a mutter toward the end._

"_You're right." Kikyo smiled. Inuyasha smiled back at her._

"_I love you, Inuyasha." Kikyo said._

"_I love you too, Kikyo." Inuyasha said as he pulled her close to him. They walked home from school hand in hand. When they got to her house, her step father was walking over to them. He looked angry._

"_Kikyo! Get inside! You!" He shouted, pointing at Inuyasha. Kikyo ran in the house, looking back at Inuyasha. She looked worried. _

"_Get off my property you useless piece of trash! Go on, get out of here! If you don't, I'll make you!" He threatened. Inuyasha was worried for Kikyo, but he left, planning to call her as soon as possible to find out what that was all about. Her mother knew about the two of them, but he guessed her new stepfather didn't. _

_He and her mother had gotten married over the summer and since then, Kikyo had been acting strange. He thought that maybe it was just because she was having a hard time adjusting to having a father and didn't think too much of it._

_Some hours later, he was calling Kikyo, but there was no answer. He wanted to believe she had just gotten grounded, but something was eating at him telling him there was something wrong. He decided he would go see her. _

_After all the commotion, he thought it'd be best to just sneak over to her window. When he got there, he knocked quietly. _

"_Kikyo." He called. She wasn't there. He waited to see if she was just out of the room, but time went by and she still wasn't there. His heart was racing That's when he heard it._

_Screaming. _

"_What's going on?" He shouted. He busted through the window and into her room. _

"_Kikyo!" Her mother sobbed. Inuyasha's heart was about to blow out of his chest it was pounding so hard. Her mother's ear piercing sobs were echoing through the house. When he got to where her mother was, he couldn't breathe. Kikyo was laying in the floor._

_In a pool of blood. _

_The world went quiet. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears and he felt sick. The feeling brought him to his knees. He knew there were hot tears falling from his eyes, but he couldn't feel the burning sensation. All he felt was cold. _

"_Inuyasha.. read this. You need to read this." He saw that her mother was holding a note painted in various spots with blood. Inuyasha took it from her and just stared at it._

_**I am not wanted here. I will give you what you want. I'm sorry for everything. Have a happy life without me, mom. I know you chose him over me. Please tell Inuyasha I love him and I'm sorry. I just couldn't bear it any longer. **_

_**Kikyo**_

Inuyasha thought of her everyday. _What if I hadn't left? Could I have saved her? _Inuyasha asked himself. He knew these thoughts wouldn't get him anywhere, but he couldn't help but wonder about it. He hadn't noticed it, but his hands had been balled into fists and his nails were digging into his skin. His hand had begun to bleed.

"Inuyasha, lingering on her is a waste of time. She is gone. She isn't coming back. Move on." Sesshomaru stated. Rage flared in Inuyasha's heart.

"What would you know? You've never even loved anyone!" Inuyasha barked. Sesshomaru just kept walking.

"It is you that is ignorant." Sesshomaru replied blankly. Inuyasha ran off and Sesshomaru sighed. _I don't know anything huh? Try me. _Sesshomaru thought.

Sesshomaru had a rough exterior, but deep down he truly did care for those that made an effort to get to know him. He tried to help people once in a while, but they all said he didn't know what he was talking about. He would say he didn't care and sometimes he didn't, but other times he did. Other times he wanted someone to understand that he was not trying to hurt them when he said the things he did. Of course, he would never let anyone know that. It was best to not show weakness to anyone. He would end up getting hurt.

Sesshomaru didn't really have any true friends. The only people who seemed to take an interest in him where whores looking for a sex buddy. He wasn't about to drag himself into that kind of drama. He was smarter than that.

When he got to school, all the girl were fawning over him. Whether it was them hiking up their skirts or pulling down their shirts to expose more cleavage, they tried anything and everything to get his attention, but to no avail. One girl caught his eye though. She was sitting in the corner, reading a book. She looked up, probably to see what all the girls were freaking out about, but when she saw what it was, she just rolled her eyes and kept reading.

_Who is that? _He wondered. He had seen her around school before over the years, but she had never fawned over him or threw herself at him like the other girls. He had been intrigued by her after he saw her push away Kohaku, one of the popular guys, because was hitting on her. Most girls would have practically been groping him at just that little bit of attention. She seemed to actually have a little class, unlike a lot of other girls he had met.

What took his attention away from the girl was the breaking out of a fight. Inuyasha and some random guy were at each other's throats. Sesshomaru sighed. _What a bother. _He thought. He was about to break up the fight when a young girl stepped in.

"Hey cut it out! There's no sense in fighting!" She shouted over them. It wasn't working very well, but she had at least caught Inuyasha's attention long enough for two bigger guys to pull them away from each other.

"Takahashi Inuyasha, Akitoki Houjo, we'll be escorting you to the disiplinary office. Now." They stated, each holding one of the boys by the collar. _Did I really make such an impact on you with my words, Inuyasha? When will you learn to get a grip on yourself? _Sesshomaru thought.

The bell began to ring and people piled into the school to go to their homeroom classes. Sesshomaru followed suit. For once he decided not to skip school altogether. He wanted to see if he could spot her again. He was intrigued by her. She was unlike any girl he had ever seen.

He had to find out more about her, and he planned to do just that.


End file.
